Shapeshifters

Shapeshifters are humans with the ability to change form into an animal. There is one Shapeshifter per terrestrial vertebrate, (totaling 32,500 at their genesis 9,336 YBP).

They cannot die unless they are killed or if the Elder of their species is killed. They cannot survive outside their animal species’ natural habitat, (known as niches). Shapeshifters are infertile and cannot practice plant magic.

Shapeshifters are blood-bonded to the Anima; they must do whatever the Anima asks. If they do not answer the call of their blood-bond, they die of a heart attack.

Their human attributes often reflect those of their animal forms: the giraffe Shapeshifter, for example, is seven feet tall, while the snowy owl Shapeshifter is an albino. Their eyes become more and more human-like the longer they spend in human form. The moment they shift, however, their eyes return to their animal form.

In addition to their blood-bond to the Anima, a Shapeshifter’s animalistic will to live prevents them from acting in any way against Order. When they spend more time in their human form, they move further away from their animal instincts, including this will to live. That doesn’t mean they can go against Order, but it does mean they can take their own life.

If a Shapeshifter is mortally injured and transforms, they will die from the toll on their body. If they can stay in human form and resist the animal instinct to “fight or flight,” they have a chance to receive medical treatment and live.

Shapeshifters are unable to practice plant magic; Gaagi, a Salvager of the Three Thirds, theorized this was because they were immortal, but in actuality, it is because Shapeshifters lack fertility, and thus the life force within one’s root required to elicit a plant’s magic, (see: plant magic.)

Some Shapeshifters believe in the Task and its potential; others, following the Great Disenchantment after the Talhümus Genocide, feel it is a lost cause and resent the circumstances of their existence. Most Shapeshifters refuse to participate in demonstrations of the Task unless the blood-bond requires them to do so. Some Shapeshifters resent Salvagers for their ability to choose whether or not to participate in the Task.

Shapeshifter Niches

The Three Thirds termed a Shapeshifter’s natural habitat their niche. They grouped Shapeshifters in two simple categories: Broad-Niche, (able to survive in a diversity of biomes), and Narrow-Niche, (limited to specific habitats and/or limited by habitat connectivity).

“Natural habitat” namely includes the biotic conditions a species needs to survive. For example, cheetahs need vistas for hunting, while pumas prefer some kind of cover, i.e. vegetation or rocks.

These conditions include the temperature ranges their animal form evolved to tolerate. For example, though Neva, the snowy owl Shapeshifter, eats a variety of rodents, she cannot go south of the equator as it gets too hot. Likewise, the animal form cannot survive where humans could not survive, for example, underwater, which is why there are no aquatic vertebrate Shapeshifters. 

Shapeshifters of Import

All Salvagers were born 9,336 Years Before Present

Birthplaces (Modern Era names)

BROAD-NICHE

Dailan: Toyoti, Godagu; osprey born as a Dakúdmin woman

Keno: Värtop Mountains, Etalv; gray wolf born as a Flüschen man

Sabaa: Parapte, Old Makalon; golden eagle born as an Alidiman woman

Stian: Riavach, Taléria; stoat born as a Talérian man

Vítor: Akanga, Sypay; puma born as a Sypayos man

Neva: Kyensimmä, Kolivi; snowy owl born as a Flüschen woman

NARROW-NICHE

Hamia: Msivuli, Nyachi; cheetah born as a Nyachian woman

Kai: Jínshí, Old Guǎdí; tiger born as a Shámin man 

Stor: Kazai, Nunlu; polar bear born as a Tuttuán man